Introducing the newest members of the family!

6 baby Barred Rocks Chicks!
1 born 11/20
3 born early morning hours (over night) 11/21
2 born early (3am ish) 11/22

Day 21 was 11/21.

Now we wait on the EE eggs. Due Thanksgiving!

There are now 2 eggs (out of the 6 Barred Rocks) that have the tiniest little poke in the egg!! Several are rocking but the COOOOOLEST is hearing htem CHIRP!!!

AMAZING!

More updates to come :)

Temp 101
Humidity 74%

Today is day 19 and I see an egg a rockin'!!!

It is now day 18 for the Barred Rocks!!! I candled them Sunday night and ALL 6 were still active!! I can't wait to see what the next few days brings :) The brooder is ready although we are going to get a different bulb it is set!

The Easter Eggers are now down to 7 possible viable eggs. I will probably candle them again tonight since this is the last night to turn the Barred Rocks and I want to only open the incubator to turn the EE's and do it as quickly as possible. So the fewer the better...

Exciting!!!

So Justice and I are walking along with our new puppy Jethro. We walk up the drive way and check the chickens...Justice starts yelling AN EGG!!!!! AN EGG!!!! AN EGG!!!

ha ha ha Our first egg :D

Well after getting 12 EE eggs shipped by Day 18 there only appeared to be 1 possible lone chickie...no movement but full dark...still hoping by some small miracle the chick decides to hatch but as of now....nothing.

Last night I candled the eggs again. I decided to go ahead and pull the eggs that looked clear. I just couldn't break them open. I asked Patrick too :D So he did it for me :) Out of the 7 eggs I pulled only 2 even looked like they started to develop at one point but they never even made it long enough to form a chick...so ... now we have 5 chicks cooking in the bator.

On Monday we are getting shipped some barred rock eggs and blue cochin eggs!

Here are a couple of chick pics on Day 6 of incubation! You can see the veining and the little mass in the middle...that...is the CHICK!!!!!




So far I can see...5 veins with chicks. 5 I can't see through just see the shadow of the yolk. and 2 I think are no good. 1 doesn't look fertilized and the other appeared to have a blood ring on day 4. Here is that pic. Still looks the same.

Here is my update...

Eggs have been in for 3 hours and 45 minutes. The temp went WAY down and I finally have it regulated..again..I think

I KNOW I said I wasn't going to mess with the humidity but I did... The humidity is now 37% and the temp reads (currently) 100. The crazy/frustrating thing is that the temp goes to 102 for 3 seconds not bad considering I think it probably changes to 102 when it is actually about 101.5 and for 3 seconds I doubt the inner egg is changing any.

The light bulb goes off.....12 minutes later the light bulb comes on. The temp on the Acurite reads 95 YIKES! but it really goes down fast. I have another thermometer..regular glass thermometer...it reads just under 100 when the light comes back on..MAYBE as low as 98 for just a little bit then right back up. The light bulb goes on....stays on about the same amount of time before cutting off again. In theory....I think...the internal egg isn't having enough time to loose enough heat to harm the growth. Cycling every 12-15 minutes??

I think I am good....

The eggs arrived today and I all but ran out into the drive way and squealed Tee Hee....

They were packaged really well and ALL 12 made it! Here are the pics ;)

These are Easter Eggers :)





And this is my son...listening...for chicks HA HA HA


The eggs are now sitting in my closet. Resting for approx. 6 hours fat end up...waiting to go in the incubator :D

This is going to be a LONG 21 days....Halloween!!!

I decided I was going to make this personal! I did my research and began gather materials to make my very own Styrofoam incubator :) Here is how it went!

First, we cut a square slightly smaller that a glass from an 8x10 frame we had. Then just past that we cut it down a bit so the glass would set flush.



We went around the edge with duck tape.

Placed the glass inside the newly cut hole and duck taped it down.

Next we put in a light socket! To produce the heat.


After watching the temperature and humidity for a while I decided to go out and buy a thermostat. In it goes...


Now. The cooler is in my closet. No drafts and I am currently regulating the temp. It is staying about 100 degrees. I need it to be closer to 101 in a still air incubator. The humidity is really doing well hanging around 40%!

Just got notice the chicks are in the mail!!! WHOOT!

OK! We have finally made the firm decision!! We are getting CHICKENS!!! My husband is working on building a coop and run. I am working on an incubator!

More to come!!